Part Two: Move Around
Designing or re-arranging library spaces calls for an understanding of the students' varying needs and demands - both individually and as a group.
We generally arrange books class number wise as per the Dewey Decimal Classification. Well, I am not asking anyone to change this! But there may be a few changes here and there, might add that extra flavour to our library.
Re-arranging furniture is a good idea but not always feasible. Colouring the library with vibrant and extravagant colours is another option, although it will bite into our budget.
Here are some of the things that we have been doing in our library:
- Re-arrange existing tables periodically, thanks to our huge space. Amusing as it may seem, but we display all our red colour books in our show-cases in the month of February (Valentine's Day = Love for Books)
- Faculty publications such as books are sometimes arranged on the Display Rack and at other times on a table which says - " I bet you know them".
- Many of you would know that B.E. students (Final Year of Engineering) need to submit a project report as part of their degree course. we request respective departments to share with us the "Top Three Best Projects" every year. We then compile these with abstracts and keep them on the table saying "Best Project Reports" with the group photo of the students, if possible. Students actually flock to see their seniors projects.
- If library wall space is limited, then convert the back side of that periodical rack into a lovely wall journal. May be you can utilize this space for:
- 1) Feedback about library
- 2) Novel Idea for library
- 3) A Quote (Quotations) Wall
Nowadays, people live a very busy life. We do not have time to read the book reviews available on Amazon or GoodReads. We go by the number of star ratings. Taking this forward, the story book shelf (novels and classics) which are mostly read can be grouped together on a centre table in the library and displayed with a 5-star rating. If you are a creative nerd, you can have short one-liners from these books embedded into bubbles or cut-outs which can be easily pinned to the books using cloth-pins.
With libraries becoming a hub of all activities, there are few more ways to redesign our libraries. Some of them are:
- Coloured Zones incorporated with IT facilities
- Makerspaces having 3D printing facilities
- Interview Cubicles: These may be considered as very useful for students who have to appear for online interviews as part of their recruitments but do not have the added advantage of high bandwidth.
- Research Space: An area recognized specially for research scholars which includes a Desktop / Laptop space, charging points, baggage area etc....can be likened to a personal space in the library.
- Idea Space: An area to discuss the feasibility of a project in a group, basically for brainstorming.
Cite as:
Bhange, C., 2021. You're An Awesome Librarian! But Does The World Know It?. [online] Innovating Libraries. Available at: <https://chinmayeebhange.blogspot.com/2021/01/youre-awesome-librarian-but-does-world.html> 